Sound-box.



P. WEBER.

SOUND BOX.

APPLICATION FILED mum, 1913 1,087,339, Patented Feb. 17, 1914.

lvi/fmcooeaz flaw anwwtoa M a oz *1 UNITED STATES r grcnr onnion.

PETER WEiBER, 0.? ORANGE, NEW JERSEY.

SOUND-BOX.

Application filed February 3, 1913. Serial No. 745,773.

T 0 all whom it may cone-em Be it known that I, PETER \Vnnn'n, a ci.ti--2011 of the United States, residing in the city of Orange, county ofEssex, and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Sound-Boxes, of which the following is a specification.

In the manufacture of phonograph records as carried on by modernprocesses, it frequently happens that the record groove is slightlydistorted; that is to say it does not follow a theoretically correcthelix around the surface ofa cylindrical record or acorrect spiralaround the face of a disk record. The best practice in phonographconstruction requires that the sound boxes be mounted rigidly againstlateral movement and that the box body he pivoted to oscillate-in aplane perpendicular to the axis of the cylindrical record o'r-to theplane of the disk record; or toprovide means whereby the stylus mayoscillate in a vertical plane where the entire sound box is held againstmovement. in any direction. Inless some provision is made for a slightlateral move ment of the stylus .under the conditions above named, thestylus itself will not track properly in the record groove, with theresult that the disagreeablescratching and the jumping of thestylusfro-m the one groove to the next will'take place.

The purpose of myjnvention is to provide the stylus and its connectionwith the diaphragm of thesound box ith means whereby said stylus mayoscillate laterally and thus be caused toIfollow' the record groove nomatter how distorted such. grooves may be or how unevenly the mandrelupon which the record is mounted may run. The structure whereby Iaccomplish this result applicable to either 'form of sound box; that isto say that formfiri" which the sound box is permitted to oscillatebodily toward and away from the record, or the-U form in which the soundbox is held rigidly against movement in any direction. I have.

therefore shown my inventiomas applied to both formsof sound boxes andin the fol' lowing description the full details ofso much of said s'oundboxes will be set forth as will enable persons skilledin the art towhich my invention pertains, to make,'construct and use the same.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification,Figure l is an enlarged side elevation of a sound box and itsconnection, designed to oscillateioabout a Specification of LettersPatent. Patented Febg17, 1914,.

pivotin a plane perpendicular, to the axis I. of a cylindrical record.Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view of the same. Fig 3 is a detached verticalsection through the styltis.a rin bear-,

ing and stylus lever. Ijig. 4 is .a plan view", of the stylus-levershowing the tubular 'bear ing for the stylus arm. Fig. asvcrticaljsection of a sound box which is designec'lto Fig, 61s a botto n;

be held rigidly fixed.

plan view of the floating weight. I Fig. an end View of theconnectionbetween the f float-mg weight and the sound bo'x body.

.Fig. 8 is a view'partly in section of sound box body and themetallicfretainihg washerfor the gaskets.

Similar reference numerals refeif'to like parts throughout thespecification afncl'drawings.

The structure shown in Figl is of the type wherein the sound box body isdesigned to oscillate in a plane perpendicular to the axis bf thephonograph record. 'Icc nsist .of the box body 1, with the elbow 23nd'th The 11 ody s in oconnecting thinible 3.

vided with a rearward extension aynguflyy connected to said body andprovided with an upwardly extending post 5', tlie latter be ing providedat its upward end with a pivot bearing itigidlv connected to the lowerside of the thimble is a lngor bracket 7 to which the post 5, ispitctedat G. "The'. sound conveying passage 8, (shown in dottedf.

"'lines) extends from the interior of the sou'nd box body through theelbow 2 an'd com municates with the interior;pu'ssage in 'the thinible Vtion may be continuous and unbroken I pr videthe elbow 2, flange 9, atits outer end, and the thimble '3, with a corresponding flange 10."- Thecylindrical contacting faces of'said flanges are struck upon the pivot6, as an axis. It. seen that the sound box body 1,- may oscillateabouf'the pivot 6, without will th us be necessarily breaking the soundconveying passage 8, from the sound bonl, to the thinible In order tolimit this'oscillation I secure to the under side of the bracket 7,-

In order that this 'communica with a cylindrical faced a short limitinglug 11, the endof 'which projects into the path oi the fiange'9. The

upward oscillation of the-sound box, of

course will be limited by the contact of the end of the limiting lug 11,with the upper face of the sound box'body.

The diaphragm and the means for retains.

ing the same within the sound box are shown I -which extend throughapertures provided therefor, of the lower ends of the posts 15.-

"The outer end of the stylus lever is connected to the diaphragm 18, bymeans of the link 19. The stylus lever 16, is shown in vertical sectionin Fig. 3, and in pla'n in Fig. 4, to which reference is now made. Fromthe upper side of said lever 16, there extends a tubular bearing 20'ofconsiderable length. Extending downwardly through said bearing is theheaded supporting pin 21, to the lower end'of which is rigidly securedthe stylus arm 22. Between the hub 23, of said stylus arm and the underside of the stylus lever is located the hearing washer 24. Upon thefree-end of the stylus arm 22, is located the cup 25, to re- .ceive thejewel stylus 26.

The structure as thus far described per} mits a free oscillation of thestylus arm 22, and its stylus 26, about the vertical axis formed by thesupporting pin 21, and yet the connections are such that any verticalmovement of the stylus 26, due to its travel in the record groove of aphonograph record will be communicated through the stylus arm 22, thestylus-lever 16, the link 19, to the diaphragm 18. Any lateraldistortion of said record groove will be taken care of by lateraloscillations of the stylus arm 22, and will not be communicated to thediaphragm. Any uneven running of the mandrel upon which the record 27,is mounted will be taken care of by the vertical oscillation of thesound box 1, about its pivot 6.-

In Fig. 5, I have shown my improvement as applied to a rigidly-fixedsound box through the means of the'well known floating weight. 28, is ofany usual or preferred type and is provided withtheconnecting thimble29, through which .the sound co veying passage 30 communicates with thesound box body. The diaphragm 31 may' be of any usual or preferred type.The one shown in the drawing is of the corrugated metallic disk typewell known in the art. 'This diaphragm is supported within the sound.boX at its margin between the two gaskets 32 and 33, upon the latter ofwhich :is located .a metallic retaining washer 34, having at onepointtherein an outwardly projecting In this structure, sound box tang 35which extends into an aperture 35 in the flangeof the sound box asshown. in Fig. 8. The retaining ring 37. iswrewed into the flange of'thebox 2 8;'-lts outer face being corrugated as shown at a Fig. 2" tofacilitate. its being turned by the fingers- .The'retaining washer 34'is inserted between v the retaining ring I37,- and the gasket; 33,

so that when said retaining ring .37 isv screwed-home it will not have atendency towrinkle the gasket 33,- as would be the case if gasket werein direct contact with the ring 37. a v V The-pivot lug 38, projectsdownwardly from the flange of the box 28 as shown in Fig. 5, 'for thepurpose of; receiving the pivot pin 39, which latter passes throughapertures in the pivot lugs 40, of the floating, weight 41. floatingweight 41 is provided with an ex- The opposite end of the 'tension 42,from the upper side of which -extends a staple 43, which takes over apin 44, projectinglaterally from the flange of the box body 28. Thispermits the floating weight to oscillate vertically about the pivot pin39 to a limited extent. From thexunder side of the floating weight 41projects the two pivot lugs 4545, between which is pivoted the styluslever 46. This stylus lever is'substantially the same in all its detailsas that shown in Fig. 3, to which refs erence is made for such details.'The outer end of the stylus lever is, connected to the center ofthediaphragm 21 by means of the link 47. lt is also provided with thetubular bearing [48, within which is the pivot pin 49 .carliiying at itslower end the stylus/arm 5,0, ch latter may oscillate in a horizontalplli iie with its stylus 51 bear: ing in the record groove ofaphonograph record 52. In order to provide space for the free movementof the tubular bearing sleeve 48 without contact with anyflp'art of thefloating weight 41, I ,proVide an aperture 53 in the center of saidweight through whiclrsaid bearing sleeve 48, may project.

Thelink 47 also extends through said aperture 53, and its connectionwith, the center of the diaphragm is accomplished in the followingmanner: In the center of the diaphragm is a headed pin or stud 54 whichextends through an aperture in the diaphragm provided therefor and isprovided at its outer end with an aperture through which the upper endof the link 47 is hooked; between the upper end of the link 47, and thelower face of the diaphragm is located a small coiled spring 55, whichlatter serves to prevent any rattling between the link 47 and theaperture stud 54.

It will thus be seen that I-have provided a sound box wherein the stylusis permitted to follow the record groove of a phonograph record,even'though such groove may be distorted to,a considerable degree out ofthe theoretically correct helix, while at the same time the constructionis such that the vertical oscillations of the stylus due to its risingand falling upon-the elevations and ex cavations of such record groovewill he faithfully communicated through the connections to thediaphragm; in other words the stylus and its connections are laterallyflexible but vertically rigid when in use. Frequent endeavors have beenmade to accomplish the same result by making the pivot bearings of thestylus lever comparatively loose but this can only result in theinaccurate transmission of the sound waves generated by the recordgroove to the diaphragm and the improper rendition of the selection, dueto the fact that the stylus itself wabblcs about in the record grooveand is not always presented to the elevations and excavations therein atexactly the same angle. I haie found in practice, that part at least ofthe disagreeable scratching is due to the stylus leaving the recordgroove and traveling upon the elevated cylindrical surface of therecords between the consecutive grooves. The lateral flexibility of myimproved stylus arm prevents this, and it also prevents the stylus fromjumping from one groove to its neighbor when the record groove itself isdistorted slightly out of the theoretically correct helix.

It is not necessary with the construction above described andillustrated in the drawings that the phonograph upon which the sound boxis mounted shall be perfectly level. In fact such conditions are metwith when the phonograph is upon a boat which may rock and thus throwthe phonograph out of level at various times. Under such conditions theswinging of the phonograph itself from side to side, (luring suchrocking motion, will cause the sound box to move slightly in itsbearings or connections, with the result that the stylus may jump fromone record groove into its neighbor. This is due entirely to the inertiaof the sound box body and the usual connections between said box bodyand the frame upon which it is mounted. Such conditions are entirelyovercome in the structure above described for the reason that the boxbody is rigidly mounted in the one case, and mounted to oscillate in aplane perpendicular to the face of the rec 0rd in the other case. Underthese conditions it is only the very small stylus arm which ma oscillatelaterally and its inertia is so slig t as to be readily overcome, ortaken care of by the lateral walls of the record groove; in other wordsthere is no liability whatsoever for the stylus to jump from one recordgroove to the next no mattor to what degree the phonograph upon whichthe sound box is mounted may itself rock or oscillate.

I claim:

1. In a sound box, the combination of a box body, a diaphragm mountedtherein, a floating weight hinged to said. box body, a stylus leverpivoted at one end to said floating weight and having a link connectionat its other end with said diaphragm, a tubular bearing extending fromthe upper side of said lever, a headed bearing pin extending through andsupported by said tubular hearing, and a stylus arm rigidly secured uponthe lower end of said pin and constrained thereby to swing in a planeparallel to said diaphragm.

2. A stylus mounting for phonograph sound boxes comprising a stylus:lever haw ing laterally extending supporting pivots at one end thereof,a tubular bearing extending from the upper side of said lever a. headedbearing pin extending through and supported by said tubular bearing, anda stylus arm rigidly secured to the lower end of said hearing pin, andconstrained thereby to swing in a plane parallel to the direction ofsaid stylus lever.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 30 day of January1913.

PETER WEBER.

Vi tnesses Louis M. SANDERS, Lomsn GREEN.

